News from numerous sources about the Levant countries: Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan

Some Jordanian prisoners to be released in Hamas-Israel deal

[10/13/2011]

AMMONNEWS – Some Jordanian prisoners in Israeli jails are set to be freed under a deal struck this week between Hamas and Israel to swap hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit.

According to political activist Maysara Malas, former head of the National Committee for Prisoners in Israel, the number of Jordanian prisoners to be freed is not yet known.

Malas told The Jordan Times yesterday that he received confirmed information that some Jordanians in Israeli prisons will be included in the agreement announced Tuesday between Gaza’s Hamas Islamist movement and the Israeli government, adding that there are currently 24 Jordanians behind bars in Israel.

According to the activist, the prisoners, whom he said were imprisoned for political reasons, are serving various terms, with one inmate having been incarcerated since 2000.

An official at the foreign ministry told The Jordan Times that the ministry has not received official information about the release of Jordanian prisoners.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in Jerusalem that the deal to swap prisoners was “finally summarized and both sides signed”, Reuters reported.

In the Gaza Strip, Hamas confirmed that it only remained to conclude technical arrangements for the exchange in the coming days.

The breakthrough pact came after many failed negotiations to free Shalit since he was captured in 2006.

The agreement calls for the release of 1,000 Palestinians in two stages, the first involving 450 to be swapped for Shalit, with the remaining 550 to be freed later.